As I type, there’s destruction going on a few feet away. We are in demolition day, Day 1 in the process of getting a new front deck. The existing deck has developed rot in key places, and finally got to the point where we had to act. So our friend and former neighbor sent a two-person crew over to proceed with the demo. Cats all appropriately in hiding.

That’s my excuse for being late in posting today.

Meanwhile, I turned to Google’s blog search for more perspectives on the unfolding events in Wisconsin. Here are a few of the finds.

Don’t miss the videos by 23-year old Matt Wisniewski, recommended in a comment posted here yesterday. They offer an amazing look at events in Madison.

Paul Krugman, in today’s New York Times:

For what’s happening in Wisconsin isn’t about the state budget, despite Mr. Walker’s pretense that he’s just trying to be fiscally responsible. It is, instead, about power. What Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to do is to make Wisconsin — and eventually, America — less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style oligarchy. And that’s why anyone who believes that we need some counterweight to the political power of big money should be on the demonstrators’ side.

Teachers’ union leader quoted in NYT:

“We have been clear — and I will restate this again today — money issues are off the table,” Mary Bell, the president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said on Sunday. “Public employees have agreed to Governor Walker’s pension and health care concessions, which he says will solve the budget challenge.”

Letter from the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty (excerpt):

As scholars, teachers and citizens, we recognize that the right to form unions and bargain collectively has been essential to the establishment and enrichment of democracy in Wisconsin, in the United States and around the world. The International Labor Organization, which the United States joined in 1934, states that “the right of workers and employers to form and join organizations of their own choosing is an integral part of a free and open society” and includes collective bargaining rights among the four “fundamental principles and rights at work.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States endorsed in 1948, states that all workers have the “right to form and to join trade unions for the protection” of their interests.

From the News Junkie Post blog:

On May 2nd, 1933, the day after Labor day, Nazi groups occupied union halls and labor leaders were arrested. Trade Unions were outlawed by Adolf Hitler, while collective bargaining and the right to strike was abolished. This was the beginning of a consolidation of power by the fascist regime which systematically wiped out all opposition groups, starting with unions, liberals, socialists, and communists using Himmler’s state police.

Working without unions (from the Wisconsin State Journal):

The potential disruption of a peaceful workplace may be one of the most threatening aspects of the possible loss of collective bargaining, said Dennis Dresang, emeritus professor of political science and public affairs at UW-Madison.

“Research shows that there is almost always inherent and inevitable conflict between workers and management,” Dresang said. “The major reason why collective bargaining occurs is because of this conflict. We’ve gone for so many years now with basically labor peace that I think people don’t have a good appreciation for collective bargaining.”

…“I quite honestly can’t imagine what it would be like for teachers or any other public employees,” Bauman said. “It’s hard to describe what it’s like when you work in an employment situation where you don’t know the rules from one day to the next.”

Michael Zimmer (“Collective Bargaining as a Human Right“), quoting the Supreme Court of Canada:

The right to bargain collectively with an employer enhances the human dignity, liberty and autonomy of workers by giving them the opportunity to influence the establishment of workplace rules and thereby gain some control over a major aspect of their lives, namely their work… Collective bargaining is not simply an instrument for pursuing external ends…rather [it] is intrinsically valuable as an experience in self-government… Collective bargaining permits workers to achieve a form of workplace democracy and to ensure the rule of law in the workplace. Workers gain a voice to influence the establishment of rules that control a major aspect of their lives.

From PR Watch (“Post- Citizens United, Crushing Workplace Democracy Can Crush American Democracy“):

The political power of public employees does raise some concerns, as pointed out by the Chicago Tribune editorial board:

Governments don’t operate under the constraints of market forces. They operate under political forces. Public unions play an inordinate role in the selection of management … Public officials who generously compensate workers tend to reap votes, contributions and campaign work from those same employees and their unions.

However, the Tribune’s concerns ignore the fact that major corporate interests spend significantly more on elections than public employee unions, and public officials become far more accountable to their corporate benefactors than government employees, who are underpaid in comparison to their private sector counterparts.